Saudi Prince Convicted of Murdering Servant in London Hotel

A Saudi prince was convicted of murdering a servant at the Landmark Hotel in London, back in February.

After a 90 minute jury deliberation, the panel rendered the verdict of guilty for Prince Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud who killed Bandar Abdullah Abdulaziz. The prince now potentially faces life-in-prison during his sentencing on Wednesday.

The 34-year-old Prince Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud is the grandson of one of the current Saudi King's brothers.

The main piece of evidence showed a video from the Landmark Hotel's elevator camera where the prince, dressed in white battered his 32-year-old servant. This helped show a pattern of abuse by the prince.

Al Saud had told police investigators that he had been out drinking with Abdulaziz and that when he woke up in the early afternoon, he couldn't awake Abdulaziz.

The prince was convicted on two counts: murder and grievous bodily harm with intent (for the elevator attack).

"Beneath the surface this was a deeply abusive relationship which the defendant exploited, as the assaults in the lift so graphically demonstrate, for sadistic reasons, for his own personal gratification," Jonathan Laidlaw, the prosecutor on this case, told the jury.

This calls into account testimony that there had been ongoing sexual abuse against the servant. Photographs found in the prince's phone lend themselves to that.

"The abuse extended beyond physical abuse. There was plainly an emotional element and psychological element to it."

From what the prosecutor is saying, Abdulaziz basically let Al Saud kill him, without fighting back.

"He was killed without apparently ever having fought back because the defendant was completely unharmed, without any mark at all, when he was examined at the police station. Bandar appears to have let the defendant kill him."

This sounds here, like Bandar wanted out of the situation, and this was the only way out, having given up hope and been abused by the Saudi Prince. Al Saud also thought that he might be able to get away with all of this, believing he would have diplomatic immunity in the U.K. Of course, he could have faced the death penalty if tried back in Saudi Arabia, not for the murder, but rather for displaying homosexual tendencies.

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Photo:  London Metropolitan Police, via MSNBC